More than five months after a black tourist was abducted and set on fire in an isolated area east of here, the crime has lost none of its power of revulsion. And on Monday, the events of last New Year's Day will be revisited as two white men go on trial for the assault. In what is one of the most heinous of several sensational crimes in this area in recent years, laborers Mark Kohut, 26, and Charles Rourk, 33, are charged with attempted murder, kidnaping and robbery.

A federal judge has moved the trial of a white man accused of setting off two pipe bombs at predominantly black Florida A&M University from Tallahassee to Pensacola because of pretrial publicity. Besides the bombing charges, Lawrence Lombardi, 42, is charged with committing a hate crime. Neither blast did much damage and no one was injured, but last year's explosions on the Tallahassee campus--and the racist threats that followed each--set the entire school on edge.

Hours after a white policeman was cleared in a shooting that sparked a race riot last month, angry mobs returned to the same streets Wednesday, wounding two officers and attacking passersby. One of the officers was shot in the leg, and a sheriff's helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing after a bullet pierced the windshield and grazed the co-pilot's arm. At least seven other people were injured.

In any other American city, a spitting incident might be dismissed as a silly office spat between co-workers. But not here. Not now. Especially not when the alleged spitter is Latino and the person spat upon is black. "We are very much on edge here, and it's getting worse because of the constant elimination of African Americans from jobs and political offices," warned Nathaniel J. Wilcox, executive director of a civil rights group called People United to Lead the Struggle for Equality, or PULSE.

A black political rival of seven black school desegregation advocates was arrested Tuesday for distributing "wanted" posters offering $10,000 for their deaths, authorities said. Ralph Leon Stephens, 47, was arrested for investigation of printing and posting the placards, Sheriff Jim McMillan said. "It appears to be a struggle in the black community," the sheriff told reporters.

Police in riot gear remained on alert and braced for possible violence Friday after a police shooting Thursday night set off sporadic incidents of rock- and bottle-throwing in two predominantly black neighborhoods. Two Latino officers on routine patrol shot and wounded a black man who they said was walking toward them with a gun.

A 30-year-old Miami police officer goes on trial here Monday, charged with manslaughter in the shooting death of a black motorcyclist fleeing a routine traffic stop. The deaths of Clement Anthony Lloyd and his passenger last January on an inner-city street touched off three days of rioting. But also on trial will be Miami itself, an ethnically divided city with a tradition of reacting violently to jury verdicts perceived as unfair.

It's being called the "quiet riot." No shots have been fired, no inner-city buildings torched, and no arrests have been made. The streets of Miami's predominantly black neighborhoods are calm. Yet, for business leaders in this city that has been rocked by three bloody civil disturbances in the past 10 years, this disciplined revolt may be the most wrenching of all. It has certainly been the toughest to quell.

A white police officer whose shooting of a black motorist sparked rioting in St. Petersburg last fall will return to work in a mostly white neighborhood, a police spokeswoman said Thursday. Officer James Knight was suspended after he shot and killed TyRon Mark Lewis during a routine traffic stop Oct. 24. Lewis' death was followed by a night of rioting in south St. Petersburg, which has a predominantly African American population. At least 11 people were hurt and nearly 30 fires were set.

Police in riot gear arrested more than 50 people at a demonstration by Haitian-Americans at a Miami shopping center where last week a Haitian immigrant was allegedly beaten by Latino employees. The incident occurred at the Biscayne Plaza Shopping Center when police began trying to disperse the crowd, which swelled from about 50 to 100, Officer George Law said.

A white police officer whose shooting of a black motorist sparked rioting in St. Petersburg last fall will return to work in a mostly white neighborhood, a police spokeswoman said Thursday. Officer James Knight was suspended after he shot and killed TyRon Mark Lewis during a routine traffic stop Oct. 24. Lewis' death was followed by a night of rioting in south St. Petersburg, which has a predominantly African American population. At least 11 people were hurt and nearly 30 fires were set.

Until the recent violence here, "we were known as the land of the newly wed and nearly dead," said Sevell C. Brown III, president of the local Southern Christian Leadership Conference chapter. "After this happened, people would say, 'I didn't even know you had black people in St. Pete.' " For years this city on Florida's west coast has been known as a hotbed of tranquillity. Then on Oct.

Hours after a white policeman was cleared in a shooting that sparked a race riot last month, angry mobs returned to the same streets Wednesday, wounding two officers and attacking passersby. One of the officers was shot in the leg, and a sheriff's helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing after a bullet pierced the windshield and grazed the co-pilot's arm. At least seven other people were injured.

Officials of this smoldering city appealed for calm Friday, even as they marshaled a vast force of riot-ready police and National Guard troops to respond to any repeat of the arson and looting outbreak that followed the fatal police shooting of a teenager the night before. As the sun went down over the Gulf of Mexico, tensions were on the rise--especially in the predominantly black neighborhood of south St. Petersburg.

A rock- and bottle-throwing crowd of several hundred people set fire to businesses and vehicles after police shot and killed a man during a traffic stop Thursday evening. At least 11 people were injured, including two police officers. The riot involved more than 200 people and continued to rage late Thursday night even as more than 300 state and local police officers carrying plastic shields and other riot gear tried to contain the violence.

Police increased patrols Friday in the Coconut Grove neighborhood after bands of teen-agers, their faces covered "like ninjas," tossed concrete at passing cars and set trash on fire. The street violence came nine days after a black youth was shot to death by a white police officer. It began Thursday night and ended early Friday, after about two hours, when police sealed off about 10 blocks in the predominantly black neighborhood. No arrests were made.

Black suspects in Dade County, which includes Miami, are no more likely to be shot by police than other suspects, despite suspicions among blacks of a racial pattern, according to a published report. The study, by the Miami Herald, comes almost a month after three days of racial violence broke out when a Latino Miami policeman shot and killed a black motorcyclist. A black man who was a passenger died later when the motorcycle slammed into a car.

More than five months after a black tourist was abducted and set on fire in an isolated area east of here, the crime has lost none of its power of revulsion. And on Monday, the events of last New Year's Day will be revisited as two white men go on trial for the assault. In what is one of the most heinous of several sensational crimes in this area in recent years, laborers Mark Kohut, 26, and Charles Rourk, 33, are charged with attempted murder, kidnaping and robbery.

After months of delay and legal wrangling, the controversial manslaughter retrial of a former Miami police officer charged with killing two black men is about to begin--not here but 230 miles away in Orlando. The people of Miami, however, will be holding their breath. "My hopes are that justice will reign, and Mr. (William) Lozano will be punished for his crimes," said Ray Fauntroy, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's Miami chapter. The trial is set to begin Monday.